Review: Tulisa feat. Akelle – ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’

Tulisa’s latest single won’t give her the comeback she desired and will be forgotten about fairly quickly

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We haven’t heard much from Tulisa since the flop of her 2012 debut album The Female Boss, and her sudden return with a refresh of Shanks & Bigfoot’s ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ offers nothing to really give her the comeback she wanted. While the song is pleasant enough, including some nice harmonies with WSTRN’s Akelle, at the same time it’s repetitive and unimaginative.

Despite spending two weeks at number 1 in 1999, the original garage version of ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ is hardly a song we all remember, so to all intents and purposes Tulisa’s version acts like a new release. She brings a nice modern angle to the song, but the backing beat is overly repetitive and lacks a drop that engages you. With the song being promoted as a dance track, it really needed to step up and have a good rhythm. Instead, it’s just too basic and won’t leave anyone wanting more, with its mundane lyrics not helping – it’ll be surprising if anyone remembers any words beyond the “You’re sweet like chocolate” refrain. Compared to the fun dance number that was her solo debut ‘Young,’ this certainly fails to live up, even though the vocal itself has a welcome return for the slutty-but-youthful undertone that her voice quite uniquely has.

The song’s rap portion, delivered by Akelle, the lead vocalist from WSTRN, is initially underwhelming and, as with the song’s trend, fails to engage. The highlight of the track, however, is their harmonies, which actually work nicely and is a welcome break from a beat that, two minutes in, is slightly annoying. This collaboration gives ‘Sweet Like Chocolate’ some light and shade, though I’m not sure that the rap here was the best investment – Akelle would have been better served just in the vocal harmony section.

About Author

Philosopher and Historian and major pop-fan. You can find me listening to most pop in the charts (Beyoncé and Sia are most certainly goddesses), as well as some modern jazz and classical and enjoing the occasional trip to the theatre. I'm also interested in the repurcussions of the representation of sex in modern-day media!
And I might be a fan of the X Factor. Sorry, I can't help it...